Monsoon is in Kolkata. And bang on time. Since Monday morning, dark, rain-bearing clouds hung over Kolkata and most parts of the state. By afternoon, it was pouring and the regional met office in Alipore let it be known that the much-awaited monsoon had finally arrived.
“Monsoon has
arrived in Kolkata and many parts of the state on Monday. In fact, the sporadic rainfall on Sunday was also part of the monsoon rain. This year, monsoon has hit the state right on time,” said GC Debnath, director of the regional meteorological office.

The South-West Monsoon has been active over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Bay of Bengal for quite some time now. Even before the monsoon moved in, large parts of the state were witnessing cloudly skies and a sharp drop in temperatures. On Monday, the monsoon swiftly moved from South to North Bengal, engulfing large parts of the state in heavy rain. In the next 24 hours, the rest of Bengal would be drenched, said the Met department. Monsoon has played hide and-seek with the state in the past several years. In 2012, the rains arrived in Bengal nine days late and that, too, after a lot of prayers. And, in 2011, a deep depression over the Bay of Bengal kept the monsoon at bay for more than a week.

This time, too, a depression kept large parts of the state wet, but it also led to the spectre of a delayed monsoon. However, the weather phenomenon moved away, allowing dark clouds to cover the state.

But how is the monsoon going to fare? If its timely arrival is anything to go by, the state will receive enough rain to keep everyone smiling.